Raheem Sterling: Liverpool insist forward is not for sale as England star hints at move away
The club are unsure whether their player is trying to force his way out or simply raising the stakes in his contract negotiations
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Your support makes all the difference.Brendan Rodgers will insist this morning that Raheem Sterling is not for sale after Liverpool’s contract refusnik veered dramatically off-message in an interview - and accused the club of not offering him a new deal last summer.
In the wide-ranging interview with the BBC, the 20-year-old England forward suggested he was keeping his options open over a potential move away from Liverpool and even said he had ambitions to play for a European club.
At Rodgers’ regular pre-match press conference at the club’s Melwood training ground today, the manager will repeat the club’s position that Sterling, who has two years on his contract after this season, is not for sale and that they will not be bullied into losing their best players.
In the interview, Sterling accused his club of not having approached him over a new contract last summer when he claimed he would have signed for much less than the £100,000 a week he is currently being offered. The club’s position last summer was that his deal had three years to run and, either way, negotiations began over a new contract as soon as Sterling’s representatives raised the issue.
The club are unsure whether Sterling is trying to force his way out or simply raising the stakes in his contract negotiations.
Speaking about last summer Sterling told the BBC: “At that point in time, if I was offered a contract, I most definitely would have signed straight away, probably for far less money than being said now. I just think the timing was a bit off. It has been a bit much for me this season with everyone talking about it every minute.
“I keep hearing I’ve rejected all sorts of contracts. Me, the club and my reps have spoken about it and put talks on hold until the end of the season, so it’s frustrating to hear the contract situation keep going on and on.
“I just wanted to get my point across on the whole thing. But, at the end of the season, I just want to sit down with the club and my representatives. I will definitely give guarantees when the season has finished.”
The confusing aspect of this for Liverpool is that Rodgers and the club have tried to shut down discussion of Sterling’s contract. It is the player and his representatives who have chosen to postpone talks until the end of the season and the issue had the potential to go quiet until then. Sterling’s interview has changed that.
The assertion from Sterling that he did not “want to be perceived as a money-grabbing 20-year-old” but that instead it was about “winning trophies throughout your career – I don’t talk about how many cars I will drive or how many houses I’ve got” suggests that he may be angling for a move. Yet Rodgers is likely to point out that his chief suitor, Arsenal, have hardly been prolific in terms of trophies in recent years.
The player himself said that it was “quite flattering” to be linked with a move to Arsenal, who also happen to be Liverpool’s opponents on Saturday. As ever, Rodgers will have the backing of owner John W Henry and the Fenway Sports Group, who will not force their manager to sell if he feels he is being backed into a corner.
Nevertheless, there was much in Sterling’s interview to suggest that any negotiations in the summer will be far from straightforward. Sterling said: “The fans get a bit frustrated with me because I’m not signing straight away. They can get on your back a little bit, but this is football and you have to accept these things.
“I try to block it out of my head, which is the whole reason why I’ve said I want to wait till the end of the season. I think they just see it as this 20-year-old boy being greedy. I just want to take the time to think about what I’ve achieved in my career so far, where I need to go and what I need to do to get better as a player.
“I just want to get through this season helping the club do the best we can do and hopefully at the end of the season be proud of what we have achieved.”
Liverpool were in a similar situation with Luis Suarez in the summer of 2013 when the player went public on his desire to leave the club. A subsequent offer of £40m, and £1, from Arsenal was rejected because the club felt it was the wrong time to sell and the valuation was too low. One year later, having qualified for the Champions League with Suarez the driving force, they sold him to Barcelona for £75m.
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